A Study of the 4th Regiment for Minnesota

Book: The Civil and Indian Wars of Minnesota, 1891, Narrative of the 4th Regiment by Captain Alonzo L. Brown, pages 195 to 220. There was a copy of this book in the Minnesota Historical Society, Ancestry.com has a copy and Internet Archives at: http://www.archive.org/details/minnesotacivil01minnrich

“The men were mostly from Dakota county, the headquarters of the company being at Lakeville. The company proceeded to Fort Snelling and was mustered in on October 7th…” pg. 198.

“On March 18th, (1862) adjutant General O. Malmros issued an order for the regiment to proceed to St. Louis. This order he modified on the 19th, by directing a delay of the movement until the opening of navigation.” pg. 199.

My goal here is not to rewrite the history of this regiment but to identify dates and locations of Alexanders regiment to his brother George’s regimental movements. This version of the 4th’s history is very detailed and a summary of the events. The map shows Red for the 9th Reg’t. (George) and Turquoise for the 4th Reg’t (Alex) and Purple for General Sherman highlighting the March to the Sea and through the Carolinas.

Map of 9th & 4th Reg’t Movement

1. Off to the South April 20, 1862 to April 23, 1862: St. Louis, Benton Barracks on the outskirts of the city.

On April 20, 1862 the side-wheel steamboat Sucker State landed at Fort Snelling, and six companies of the regiment, accompanied by the regimental band, and in command of Lt. Colonel Thomas, embarked upon it and started for St. Louis, to report to Major General Halleck. As the boat approached St. Paul the bluffs and river banks were crowded with people who waved their hands and ‘kerchiefs…the steamer soon swung around and headed down stream on its journey, the band playing “The Girl I Left Behind Me….”

2. On Sunday, 2nd of May, 1862 the regiment left Benton Barracks on the steamboat John J.Roe and landed at Cairo and Paducah then proceeded up the Tennessee River. They arrived at Fort Henry and moved up the river another eight miles and disembarked at Paris Landing. On the boat the Gladiator they proceed further up the Tennessee River to Brown Landing, Tennessee arriving on the 13th. On May 14th they arrived at Hamburg Landing, Tennessee and left the Gladiator marching two miles to Childer’s Hill where they encamped. The next day they marched to join the army under General Halleck and were assigned to the First Brigade (Buford’s), Third Division (Hamilton’s), Army of the Mississippi.

3. Seige of Corinth May 12th to August 1862: Moved toward Corinth slowly and on the 18th of May advanced to Farmington. May 30th they discovered the enemy had evacuated and they pursued them 20 miles south to Boonville (maybe Booneville, MS) and then returned to fives miles from Corinth established camp at Clear Creek. During the latter part of June they marched toward Holly Springs passing through Rienzi and on as far as Ripley then returned to Clear Creek. In August they marched 12 miles to Jacinto.

6. Campaign down the Mississippi Central Railroad: Left Corinth and marched to Grand Junction and then onto Holly Springs. Then from Davis Mills to LaGrange and west to Moscow then marched with Grant during the last of November to Cold Water, Holly Springs and the Tallahatchie River. Traveled down the Mississippi Central railroad in November 1862 to reach Vicksburg and fell back to Oxford and then back to Memphis.

7. The Yazoo Pass Expedition in the winter of 1862 was organized to turn the enemy’s right at Haines Bluff and compelling the evacuation of that position and using it for operations against Vicksburg.

9. Running the Batteries — Vicksburg: From Milliken’s Bend to the point a little below Grand Gulf the army embarked and cross the river to Bruinsburg. No losses at Port Gibson, Forty Hills on May 3rd, nor Raymond on May 12th and at Jackson on May 14th.

9. Battle of Champion Hills May 16, 1863 and after this battle aided in building a bridge across the Big Black so the Seventeenth Corps could cross to go to Vicksburg. http://battleofchampionhill.org/

10. Seige of and Assault on Vicksburg May to July 1863: They aided other units. They traveled to Mechanicsburg and then moved down to Snyder’s Bluff near Vicksburg and later to Vicksburg and formed a part of the army of occupation of that city after its surrender. http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm

11. Battle of Chattanooga: Left Vicksburg on 12th of September, 1863 for Little Rock and Helena and then to Memphis. Marched to Chattanooga via Winchester over the Cumberland Mountains to Sweden Cove and on to Bridgeport. Bivouacked in the ravines near Crane’s Hill across from Chattanooga Nov. 23, 24, 25, 1863. General Sherman’s army landed above the city of Chattanooga. Then they marched to Bridgeport and on to Huntsville and went to destroy ferryboats passing through Madison Station and back to Huntsville. http://www.aotc.net/Chattanooga.htm

12. Battle of Altoona (Spelled Allatoona) Oct 5, 1864: Arrived in Stevenson, Alabama and proceeded to Kingston, Georgia in time to celebrate the 4th of July (1864). Marched from Kingston to Altoona and formed a part of the force stationed there. Altoona is 40 miles north of Atlanta. The 4th Regiment was in the thick of this battle to protect General Sherman’s supplies and communications. Atlanta was captured about September 2d and Hood left. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Allatoona

13. March to the Sea: After Atlanta was taken

“During the progress of the battle, General Sherman, from the heights of Kenesaw Mountain, and about eighteen miles away, toward Atlanta, signaled to Altoona to learn if Corse had arrived, and received a signal reply that satisfied him, and this circumstance is referred to in the song, “Hold the Fort for I am Coming.” Sherman’s army soon followed closely after Hood’s, who retreated toward Alabama, and in a few days our communications were again open. Active preparations were now made for the campaign through Georgia to Savannah. Supplies were rapidly brought to the front, the convalescents and those unable to travel were sent North, and the army was stripped of surplus animals and property, which were sent to the rear, and on the 14th of November it had assembled at and near Atlanta. On the 15th it started on the March to the Sea.” pg. 216.

“Our regiment marched with the rest of General John E. Smith’s Third Division of the Fifteenth Corps, Colonel Tourtellotte in command, and having received several hundred recruits from Minnesota while at Altoona, during the months of September and October, was pretty full in numbers.” pg. 216.

“The kind people of Georgia made but little opposition to our advance. Their sweet potato patches were generally numerous, their corncribs abundant, and the melody of their garden fowls sounded as sweetly to the ears of our “bummers” as that of their relatives…And as the country had not been stripped of its supplies by the operation of hostile forces, it yielded sufficient, so that, with the rations carried in the army trains, and a very large drove of cattle that we started with, there was not much suffering on the excursion through the state. There were no battles, and only an occasional skirmish fought. With the exception of three rainy days the weather was pleasant during the entire time previous to December 7th…On arriving at Gordon…destroyed a mile and a half of the Macon railroad…Our army arrived before Savannah on the 10th day of December…Our rations got short on approaching the vicinity of Savannah and the men suffered considerable privation. The city having been evacuated by Hardee’s forces, our army took possession on the 21st.” pg.216

From this point the Sherman Marched through the Carolinas by boat to Beaufort, rains flood the Savannah river and they had trouble with the wagons crossing and lost some of them. Marched inland from Beaufort to by Pocotoligo to McPhersonville around January 31st (1865), arriving at Duck Creek:

“Out regiment was sent to drive them away, and after deploying several companies as skirmishers, out boys charged through the stream, which was waist-deep, and found a fine plantation on the other side.” pg. 217.

They then moved on to the Salkehatchie Swamp and River and came to the railroad near Bamberg where they destroyed the rails. From there they marched across the Edisto River toward Orangeburg then turned north toward Columbia marching through that city on the 17th of February (1865) establishing camp outside Columbia. They left Columbia on the 20th after they destroyed ammunition and ordnance stores of the enemy. Marched over high, rocky and rolling country to the Wateree River and the vicinity of Little Lynches Creek although the land was flat the rain fell “incessantly.” Moved over to the Big Lynches Creek in prep to fight the enemy but found flood waters which they crossed to Cheraw reaching that on March 3rd to find more supplies of the enemy to use. They remained a few days and marched to Fayetteville dealing with rain and mud on this march.

“On arriving near Shoe-Heel Creek, our men worked all night long, pulling and lifting the mule teams and wagons over a bottomless swamp, rain falling incessantly. On the 12th of March we reached the vicinity of Fayetteville, and crossing the Cape Fear River, established our camp near the town. We left this camp in a rainstorm, and marching all day, over, under and through a flat country, night overtook us stuck in the mud, with the teams down in all directions. For three days we fought with the elements of mud and rain.” pg. 217.

14. Battle of Bentonville took place on the 19th, 20th and 21st of March 1865 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bentonville when Johnson retreated they marched to Goldsboro and camped near that city. They left there on April 10th and marched for Raleigh and camped near the city. Johnson surrendered on April 26th and they learned of President Lincoln’s assassination. On the 29th of April they marched for Richmond and on to Washington passing through Petersburg and arrived at Richmond on the 10th of May near Manchester. From Richmond they marched through Fredericksburg, Dumfries and the grounds of Mt. Vernon viewing George Washington’s grave and onto Alexandria.

“On the 24th of May the regiment marched at the head of the column of General Sherman’s grand army of 65,000 veterans in the review at Washington, and, passing through the city, established its camp five miles out at CrystalSprings. Leaving its camp near Washington the last of May, the regiment marched to the city and with the rest of the Army of the Tennessee moved by rail to Parkersburg on the Ohio River. Embarking on the steamboat Champion, it proceeded with the rest of the army down the river to Louisville, Ky. and established its camp near that city, and there remained until July 19, 1865, when it was mustered for discharge out of the service. The next day the command embarked upon the cars and proceeded on its journey to St. Paul, passing through Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee. On arriving at LaCrosse we embarked on the steamboat Northern Belle, and on July 24th arrive at St. Paul.” pg. 218

In summary, I think we know who “Marched to the Sea.” Alexander applied for his Civil War Pension and in those documents from the National Archive I find more evidence that Alex was with Sherman.

Things to Ponder

The header photo of the Mississippi River near Brainerd and the headwaters of the river. From the Minnesota Nature Conservancy Website.

Leola May Blinn may be the daughter of Sarah A. Blinn a sister of George and Alexander. I have added new information as of 6/10/2016 to the post about another of Alexander's siblings. Just put Leola into the search engine and you should find the information.

Table of content pages have been added to the top of this blog. Each page covers a family grouping and the posts published on this blog about that family and other blogs that I write on. HOVER over the titles at the top of this page and other pages titles will drop down. 1/22/2016

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